The Impact Of Climate Change On Bird Migration
For thousands of years, birds have been flying the same routes. They move with the seasons. They go where the food is. They trace ancient maps in their brains. But now the world is warming. The climate is changing fast. This is all messing with the birds’ heads. It is breaking their old modes. Their travels have never been more treacherous. This is the tale of how climate hurts birds’ travels.
Why Birds Migrate
Birds migrate to survive. They are flying from where food will be scarce to where it will be plentiful. A swallow travels south to search for insects in the winter. In summer a goose flies north to open water and plant life. They always select the right moment to take a journey. They rely on the sun and stars and Earth’s magnetic field to navigate. Their sleek bodies are adapted for lengthy flights. This system worked for ages. Now the system is failing.
The Problem Of Timing
Climate change scrambles the clock. Spring comes earlier now. Warm weather comes weeks earlier than it used to. Plants bud sooner. Insects hatch earlier. This seems like a good thing. But birds adhere to a different clock. The time to migrate is determined by the duration of sunlight. The daylight changes in the same way each year. Temperature does not.
So a bird could begin its northward journey on the right day. But it reaches its nesting site to find that spring has already passed. The insect peak has passed. The flowers already went to seed. The baby birds are hatching, and there is nothing for them to eat. It is this mismatch that represents a silent disaster. Many chicks starve on the nest.
The Problem Of Food And Water
Drought is more common now. Wetlands dry up. Rivers shrink. Birds need these places. As part of their long journey, they are rest stops. A shorebird zips from the Arctic to South America. It has to spend the night and eat at a muddy wetland. When that wetland is dry the bird has no gas. It cannot finish its trip. It drops out of the sky tired.
Berries or fruit may ripen too early. A bird that eats certain berries flies twice to get them ripe. If the berry matures too soon it is gone when the bird arrives. The bird finds an empty bush.
The Problem Of Weather Storms
Climate change makes storms stronger. Birds travel into hurricanes and surprise early blizzards. These storms can also blow birds off course. They burn themselves fighting the wind. They wake up in locations they do not recognize. They can’t be fed or housed. Many die from the stress.
Then it got even hotter and heat waves were a problem as well. Birds can overheat. Hot enough to kill baby birds in a nest. Drought also means less water to drink. A long flight over a hot, dessicated landscape is lethal.
The Problem Of New Paths
Some birds are making alternate plans. They are flying shorter distances. Or they just aren’t migrating. That’s a huge behavioral change.
Robins winter farther north now. In warmer cities, they find enough food. This seems like adaptation. But it causes new problems. More birds in one location can help spread disease. They can eat all the food of a certain place. In the process, other animals that require that food go hungry.
Some birds ascend higher in mountains where the air is cooler. But there is only so much mountain. The top of the mountain has no higher peaks.
The Question At The End Of The Road
The summer home and the winter home are both changing. At the pole, the Arctic is heating up faster. Snow melts earlier. The plants are different. Insects are different. Arctic-breeding birds arrive somewhere they no longer recognize. The secret hiding nests are laid open. The special food for young chicks is nowhere to be found.
In the South, tropical forests are becoming drier. Other birds return to the same tree each year. If that tree goes, they are doomed. Shores where birds winter are inundated by rising seas. The mangroves and marshes on which they depend are going under water.
Specific Birds In Trouble
The longest migration is that of the Arctic Tern. It migrates from the North Pole to the South Pole and back again every year. It schedules its journey to chase everlasting summer. Now the seasons are blurred. Its food supplies are out of whack. This champion flyer is struggling.
The Purple Martin feed on flying insects. It spends the winter in the Amazon and summers across North America. Less rain, fewer insects in the Amazon. These birds enter the north weak and thin. It isn’t that they can’t feed their young enough to sustain them.
Other Vocabulary Try the Riddle With a Friend Now, you can share the riddle with a friend! It confuses people. They spot a robin in January and believe spring is early. But the robin is present because it’s just too warm to go. It is not a sign of health. It is the mark of a broken pattern.
What This Means For Us
Birds are not just beautiful. They are vital. They control insect populations. They sow seeds that spawn new forests. They clean up waste. Our environment feels the loss when species of birds decline.
The silence is the warning. A forest without birdsong is a sick forest. A morning with no dawn chorus is a day that has lost its soundtrack. This is already happening in a lot of places.
What We Can Do To Help
We must give birds a chance. We can help in many ways.
Make our yards bird friendly. Plant native trees and bushes that provide food and refuge. Place out clean water for drinking and bathing. Keep cats inside to prevent them from hunting birds.
Support protected wild places. Birds require places to rest and feed. We’ve got to save our wetlands and forests and grasslands.
Reduce our carbon footprint. This is the big task. We must slow climate change. Drive less. Use less energy. Get on board with clean power, wind and sun. Any carbon we keep out of the air slows down that warming.
Install window stickers to keep birds from flying into glass. This saves millions of birds annually.
Learn and watch. Join a bird count. Tell scientists what you see. Your eyes can also help track the changes.
The Big Picture
The migration of birds is among the Earth’s great mysteries. It is a graceful dance through the sky. Hey, climate change is kicking up its heels on the dance floor. The music is off beat. The dancers look confused, and fall.
But birds are resilient. They have outlasted ice ages and volcanoes. They’re quick studies, if we have the patience. We must slow the change. We must protect their homes. We must clear their paths.
Listen for the birds. Their calls are a statement on the health of our world. Their travails inform us that the planet is in a dire state. Their fates have been interwoven with ours.
A world that is safe for migratory birds to fly freely in, is a world that is safe for humans. We have to do something now to keep their ancient migrations on track. For generations to come we must make certain That the sky will not be empty— That it will still be filled with the brave wings Of those who follow the call home.